I was subjected to yet another odd dream a few days ago. This time, I went into my attic and it had transformed into a large warehouse lined with doors. I went through one of the doors and ended up in a gigantic mall. At first, I was angry that no one told me they were making my attic into the storage room for this new creation. Then, I realized the handiness of having an entire mall waiting for me on the other side of an attic door. The Architect aptly titled this dream, “Abercrombie, Fitch, and the Wardrobe.”
On drearier fronts, I took the two ‘kittens’ to the vet yesterday for their first year’s wellness check. Sid Vicious is fine, but Minister has a heart murmur and has to go to a cardiologist next week for an echocardiogram (that’s him in the photo above, helping me work out plot issues this past winter). This is all too familiar territory for me. Three years ago our oldest, Elwood, developed a murmur. That turned into restrictive cardiomyopathy, and he was gone in less than six months. He died in misery. Thinking that this might just happen again–and with a virtual kitten, no less–well, let’s just say I’m not happy.
Since we live in a rural area, I have to drive the little guy all the way to Annapolis for this appointment. It’ll be the first extended period away from his brother for him. And they’re like glue. I just hope it’s not the beginning of a larger, more permanent trend of separation. I found myself thinking yesterday if it might have been better had we never adopted them at all, rather than possibly go through the nightmare of shoving pills down reluctant throats and eventually watching a helpless being die in terrible pain yet again. But, then I told myself to get a hold of myself–which I promptly and firmly did–and wait to see what the doctor has to say.
On the vague front, still no word from the agent. The days are quickly winding down to the end of the two month’s response time stated in their submission guidelines. As I’ve said before, no news means no rejection, but I’m still getting a little tired of the stasis of it all. I suppose I should just get used to it, because it’s most likely going to happen some more.
Today will be about plot outlining, avoiding thinking about and endlessly Googling potential diagnoses for Minister, and also avoiding going outside, because it’s crazy hot out.
Hell and Wheels 
August 13th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
Thanks, Steve.
August 12th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
Hope your L’il Fellah is okay!
August 12th, 2007 at 1:14 am
Thanks, Spy. I’ll try to put up an update after seeing the cat cardio on Tuesday.
August 10th, 2007 at 7:13 pm
Oh no! Please keep us updated on Minister. Poor baby. And yes, it would be handy to have a mall up the stairs in the attic!
August 10th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Thanks for the well-wishes, everyone. Christina — With five cats, I guess I have to agree that cats are the greatest. I don’t go so far as to drag them to PetSmart with me, or dress them up in outfits or teach them to eat with a fork, but these guys are my buds, and I’ll do whatever it takes to protect them.Kate– Did you see I changed the title? The Architect saw it, reminded me that it was the incorrect title and proceeded to rant about how misquotations like mine were how, “genius gets watered down for the masses.” I now stand shamed and corrected.Charles– What else can we do? The last time I was at the vets with two of my other cats a man came in and said his dog had been hit by a car. The tech asked when and he said six o’clock the night before. The dog had been in misery for over eighteen hours at that point. She said they’d evaluate the dog and the jerk said not to, to just put the dog to sleep. That ass-chew had been waiting all night for the dog to die and then realized it wasn’t happening. My teeth lost about an eighth of an inch from grinding them that afternoon.
August 10th, 2007 at 2:30 am
I hope your cat will be OK. I remember when our dog was a puppy we had to have surgery on her for a leg problem. Pretty expensive, but she’s been a good dog.
August 9th, 2007 at 8:11 pm
Oh, I’m so sorry to hear about the kitty. I hope he’ll be all right. And his brother. I had two sister cats once that couldn’t bear to be apart.Ambercrombie, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a great title! I could see a funny, snarky YA book evolving from that.
August 9th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
I’m so sorry to hear about the heart murmur. I love that picture above. He still looks like he is enjoying his kitty self with random things. Are cats the greatest! They look so innocent when they are obviously guilty. I just want to hug them!